Monday, June 2, 2008

My father is an equally wonderful, if not a more, human being. From him I have always learnt to assume negative intent. Whatever anybody says or does, assume negative intent. You will still be amazed at how your approach to a person or problem becomes very different!! When you assume positive intent, you get carried away. When you assume negative intent (i.e. pessimistic about your success), you are more cautious (and hence correct) at every step you take. There will be no slack in your effort/output of the work you have undertaken. You won’t be calm when you are not supposed to be!!

In your life, and not just in business, people say things. And they say it because mean it in some corner of their mind. With positive intent, you tend to “ignore” their words as something said in the heat of the moment. If you assume negative intent, it will keep hovering in some corner of your mind. From then on, you will take care to ensure that you don’t behave/talk in a way that will/could result in a similar reply. You make that extra effort to add the necessary clarifications put across your intent clearly, along with your message. So “take even the simplest things very seriously” is the best trait I have inherited from my father.

Well, objectively speaking, I have actually inculcated both the viewpoints. For any task/work that I take up, I constantly imagine myself failing in it. And at all of those instances, I also imagine myself succeeding with flying colours. The possible/expected fruits of success constantly motivate me to put the effort needed to achieve it. The fear of failure keeps me on my toes, and ensures that there is no slack in my effort. To me, the latter is more important.

The article, by Nooyi, mentions two important dimensions – doing work and talking/communication. While the focus of my first paragraph was on “doing work”, the second focuses on “talk”. I saw these two aspects mixed up in the write up by Indira Nooyi. So, I would say, my write-up is better constructed (well formed) than Nooyi’s. Judging the content is best left to you!!

PS: My comparison is only about the structure (how) of the write-ups, and not the contents (what). Adding this line is necessary for me to deliver my intent to you correctly. And, this is exactly what I meant by “extra effort” in my second paragraph........